1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to jewelry and more particularly, to jewelry employing moveable settings.
2. Prior Art
The advancement in jewelry design has generally related to the mere employment of artistic techniques to change the material and shapes which are employed. The present invention employs a setting for gems or other aesthetically pleasing elements which is mechanically moveable within the total jewelry structure. It is well recognized that pendants, rings, earrings, etc., have long employed simple, mechanically moveable elements. The simplified structure employed by the pieces displayed in the prior art typically utilize a horizontally or vertically rotating shaft upon which the stone or piece to be shown can be mounted. The designs disclosed by the prior art are structurally simple merely requiring appropriate journelng at the termini of the horizontal or vertical shaft. Even where the orientation of the shaft has been changed, there has still been no attempt to expand the concept into more mechanically, sophisticated areas such as those emmbodied by the present invention.
The present invention comprises a setting for gems or other items to be exhibited which utilizes gravitational forces as an integral function of the jewelry setting. THe present invention substantially resolves the inadequacies displayed by the jewelry structures disclosed by the prior art. A curved mounting guide having a given radius of curvature is mounted atop an internal cavity of a ring, pendant or other form of jewelry. A sleeve is fitted about the guide, the top of the sleeve having a setting for receiving a jewel or other like object. A connector depends inwardly from the bottom portion of the sleeve and terminates in a bearing housing which is adapted to be journeled about a shaft disposed through the cavity of the jewelry enclosure. The shaft about which the bearing housing is journeled is disposed perpendicular to the plane of movement of the sleeve. Weighted means are coupled to the bearing housing on the opposite side thereof from the connector and sleeve. When the jewelry structure is positioned at any angle, gravitational forces will place the weighted means at the lowest position of arc about the shaft thereby causing the sleeve and coupled jewel to be reciprocally moveable along the mounting guide. Through the use of gravitational forces, the mounted jewel will appear to be moveable and yet will always return to a position which lies vertically above the weighted means. The observer will see only the mounted jewel, all remaining elments of the jewelry structure being disposed within the internal cavity of the piece of jewelry.